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Do you know what it takes to keep your home heating system working efficiently? Most people know that the filters need to be changed from time to time, but exactly when should you be changing them? What type of filter should you be using? Is there anything else that homeowners can do to ensure that the system they rely on to heat and cool their homes operates using as little energy as possible? My blog will show you all sorts of things about maintaining your home heating and cooling system. In the end, you will know just what to do to take care of your home's system.

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Central air conditioners are a split system consisting of an air handler inside your home's furnace and a larger condensing unit that sits outside your home, usually on a concrete slab. The cooling process starts in the condensing unit when the thermostat sends a signal to the compressor, which then pumps out the refrigerant fuel needed to power the system and cool your air.

Problems with parts inside the condensing unit can cause you to lose refrigerant or process the refrigerant less efficiently, which will slowly make your system less efficient until the air conditioner stops working altogether.

Rapid Cycling Compressor

Does your air conditioning unit start up properly but then seem to shut off quickly for no reason? You might have a problem with one of the capacitors that regulates the electricity going into the compressor.

Your air conditioner likely has a run capacitor, which stores a charge in case the compressor needs a boost during operations. It might also have a start capacitor, which helps the compressor get going. If either of those capacitors fails to work, the compressor can lose its electrical footing and stop running.

The bad news is that this rapid cycling will make it seem like your unit is becoming less efficient, which often signals a refrigerant issue. But the refrigerant in this case isn't actually draining out unless there is also a hole in the compressor.

Contact an air conditioning repair service like Nebraska Heating & Air to examine and replace the capacitors and to make sure there aren't any problems with the capacitor that could feed into the rapid cycling and potentially cost you refrigerant.

Dirty or Broken Condenser Coils

The gas refrigerant compressed within the compressor is pushed out into the nearby system of condenser coils. The coils take that gas and change it into a liquid, which causes the coils to become hot and allows the refrigerant to move on into the other part of the split system via lines leading to your air handler.

The phase change process requires that the coils stay clean and intact. If the coils break, refrigerant can leak out, which will slowly drain your system and cost efficiency. If the coils are dirty, the phase change won't happen as effectively, and your air handler won't receive the full amount of liquid refrigerant. Repeat this failure for a few rounds of cooling, and the air handler won't have the supplies needed to cool your indoor air.

Call a heating and air conditioning services technician to clean your condenser coils and to top off the refrigerant levels, if needed. Broken coils leaking refrigerant will need to be replaced before the refrigerant is readjusted.